A REVIEW OF PROCEDURAL ACCEPTABILITY IN ORGANIZATIONAL-BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT

Despite the documented benefits Organizational Behavior Management (OB M) applications can have on service provision for people with developm ental disabilities, OEM is not widely practiced in service systems. On e variable that may impact the utilization of OEM is how acceptable th e associated procedures are to staff. The research on procedural accep tability in OEM is summarized in terms of two primary methods for dete rmining consumer satisfaction with management procedures-rating scales and discrete choices. Results of acceptability assessments utilizing ratings scales have repeatedly indicated high degrees of staff accepta nce for virtually all OEM procedures. However, when staff have been as ked to choose among management procedures, clear and consistent differ ences in acceptability have been apparent. Suggested directions for fu ture research focus on improving acceptability assessment methodology, developing guidelines for implementing effective OEM procedures in a manner that is most acceptable to staff, and involving supervisory and professional staff in acceptability evaluations.